Culture and Tulips Come Together this Weekend

Aw, the tulip. What other flower inspired a passion that made the history books?  The tulip was love at first sight for Europeans who hoarded, planted, and obsessed over tulips until their tulip bubble burst in February 1623.

Here’s a quick history of how the tulip nearly brought Europe to its knees.  A Dutch diplomatic envoy brought a few tulip bulbs back from the bulbs’ native Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) to show off in the 1600s. The bulbs loved the cool, wet climate and the Dutch loved the vivacious colors and shapes.  Tulips quickly became the status symbol of the Golden Age and people paid increasingly crazy sums of money to own them.  Tulips were so lucrative that at one point, there was actually a market trading in future tulip sales.  At its peak, it’s estimated that one tulip bulb sold for several times the average annual salary of a tradesman.

Since the famed tulip mania events, Holland and the tulip have remained tightly connected.  During World War II, Dutch resistance fighters would wear or display orange tulips to show support for the government in exile.  Every spring in Holland, miles and miles of fields bloom with beautiful tulips and 1.2 billion more are exported.  And how did Thanksgiving Point end up with a Tulip Festival? Dutch immigrants brought their beautiful tulips to their new homes in North America and around the world.

Because of all of this rich and fascinating history, what would the Tulip Festival be without a celebration of the Dutch?  This year’s Dutch Day celebration is Friday, April 23 and Saturday, April 24 and promises to be the best yet.  Come for the costume contest on Saturday at 3 pm and wear your best klompen (wooden clog shoes).  Visit the Old Dutch Store’s booth to try some traditional Dutch fare.  Or just take in some of the 250,000 tulip bulbs around you while listening to beautiful Dutch music.

We’re just hoping to keep tulip mania at bay.

Friday April 23
10 am – 3 pm Old Dutch Store – Dutch Food Sampling
10 am – 3 pm Make a Dutch Hat
10 am – 3 pm Decorate a Wooden Shoe ($3)
Noon The Accords at the Amphitheater
Noon Garden Tour (Gardens Visitor Center)
1 pm Dividing Perennials Demo (Creek Garden)
2pm The Accords at the Amphitheater
3 pm Garden Tour (Gardens Visitor Center)
3-5pm Strolling Bagpipers courtesy of Utah Pipe Band
4 pm Creating a Mixed Border (Creek Garden)

Saturday April 24
10 am – 6 pm Old Dutch Store – Dutch Food Sampling
10 am – 6 pm Make a Dutch Hat
10 am – 6 pm Decorate a Wooden Shoe ($3)
11 am Vegetables in Containers Demo (Garden Path Greenhouse)
Noon Garden Tour (Gardens Visitor Center)
1-5 pm Idlewild (Waterfall Amphitheater)
1 pm Totally Tomatoes (Rose Garden)
3 pm Dutch Costume Contest
3 pm Garden Tour (Gardens Visitor Center)
4 pm Planting a Deer Resistant Landscape Demo (Creek Garden)
6-7 pm Dancemaker  Studio (Waterfall Amphitheater)
7-8 pm Innovations Studio (Waterfall Amphitheater)

Admission is free for Thanksgiving Point members and just $10 for adults, $6 for children.

Tags: activities, April, children, culture, dutch, family, festival, flowers, gardening, lehi, music, Out and About, Thanksgiving Point, tulip festival, tulips, Utah County